mischief

• n. いたずら、傷害、いたずら、不和

mis-、悪い、間違った、悪い、-chief、頭、語源的にはcaptain、chiefと同じ。ここでは、発生、露頭、すなわち、悪いことが起こる最初の兆候、不幸、不運、悪意、害悪の意味で使われる。後に、この言葉の意味は弱まり、いたずら好きな子供のことを指すようになる。

mischief

mischief: [13] Etymologically, mischief is something that ‘happens amiss’. The word comes from Old French meschef, a derivative of the verb meschever ‘meet with misfortune’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix mis- ‘wrongly, amiss’ and chever ‘happen’ (which came ultimately from Latin caput ‘head’, and etymologically meant ‘come to a head’). It still meant ‘misfortune’ when English acquired it; in the 14th century the sense ‘harm, damage’ emerged, but the more trivial modern sense ‘naughtiness’ did not develop until the 18th century.

mischief (n.)

c. 1300, "evil condition, misfortune, need, want," from Old French meschief "misfortune, harm, trouble; annoyance, vexation" (12c., Modern French méchef), verbal noun from meschever "come or bring to grief, be unfortunate" (opposite of achieve), from mes- "badly" (see mis- (2)) + chever "happen, come to a head," from Vulgar Latin *capare "head," from Latin caput "head" (see capitulum). Meaning "harm or evil considered as the work of some agent or due to some cause" is from late 15c. Sense of "playful malice" first recorded 1784.

Mischief Night in 19c. England was the eve of May Day and of Nov. 5, both major holidays, and perhaps the original point was pilfering for the next day's celebration and bonfire; but in Yorkshire, Scotland, and Ireland the night was Halloween. The useful Middle English verb mischieve (early 14c.) has, for some reason, fallen from currency.

1. ジェームズ?フォックスは『欲望の城』という本で最も有名だ。

2.The letter had come from an unknown miscief -maker.

匿名の離間者からの手紙。

3.His eyes were full of miscief .

彼の目は狡猾に満ちている。

4.Those children are always getting into miscief .

あの子たちはいつもいたずらばかりしている。

5.Don 't play the mischief with the cards I have arranged.

私が整理したカードを混乱させるな.